Chip Kelly explains why he left head coach job at UCLA

Jul 24, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins coach Chip Kelly during Pac-12 football media day at Hollywood & Highland. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Chip Kelly left the football world stunned when he left his job as the head coach at UCLA to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State.

The move from Kelly was very unconventional; very few coaches ever willingly choose to leave a power-5 head coach job to become a coordinator elsewhere. Most coaches either succeed and get hired by another school, or they coach until they get fired. But not Kelly, who decided to leave for the Buckeyes, perhaps to get ahead of an inevitable sacking that was imminent from the Bruins.

On Tuesday, Kelly spoke with the media at Ohio State and explained his decision to leave UCLA for the Buckeyes.

The 60-year-old said the impetus for him to think about dropping down the coaching ladder came when he coached UCLA’s quarterbacks ahead of the bowl game. The team’s quarterbacks coach had left for a job with Oregon State, so Kelly coached the quarterbacks for their bowl game. He enjoyed that, and his wife pointed out how happy he seemed to be coaching a position again.

“To me, the best part of football is football. And so you got to do football and not do some of the things involved with the head coaching deal,” Kelly said.

Kelly described being a college football head coach as more of being a “CEO” rather than a coach. Kelly is more fulfilled not having the responsibilities of being a head coach and just focusing on coaching football.

Kelly’s decision is Ryan Day’s gain. The other person gaining from Kelly’s decision DeShaun Foster, the former Bruins running backs coach who has since being hired as their new head coach.

You can see a video of his comments:

Chip Kelly says he's found happiness at Ohio State.

Watch: pic.twitter.com/836vWp7cuG

— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) March 5, 2024